Platinum End Novel Adaption
by Holderoftheheel
Summary: This is the result of attempting to transform the original manga by Tsugumi Ohba into a novel format. The plot and characters will remain almost entirely the same. Slight details will change based on convenience for adapting. Some larger details are subject to change in order to improve the overall experience. Please support the ongoing, official release of Platinum End.
1. Chapter 1: Gift from an Angel

**Story by Tsugumi Ohba.** Please support the official release of his work. The following is an adaptation of the original manga in novel format purely for the sake of enjoyment and the practice of writing.

CHAPTER 1: GIFT FROM AN ANGEL

A stern reminder to keep up with their studies.

The sound of a ringing bell.

An additional warning to remain out of trouble drowned out from the scrapes of chairs shoved across the floor followed by the clatter of feet.

The class instructor sighed in defeat before compiling the last few remaining utensils atop his desk inside a box filled with stacks of papers, office supplies, and finally the name plate at the front removing the last vestige of the semesters it had endured and any affiliation it had with him.

Students exchanged grins and laughter as they slid their bags across their shoulders, having already forgotten who had commanded their attention for months and where they stood, their eyes now only on each other.

Instead, the topics that arose amongst the youths looked to the future. To what school would they go next? Are you excited for the school trip? We should head out and do some Karaoke! Summer break had awoken with a snap and stretched to a standing position for these third-year junior high youths.

"You don't have the grades for Shuei High, Sayuri. Too bad you didn't accept my invitations to study together."

Conversation crossed the room over a young man whose unkempt hair hung over glassy eyes. Along with their words, so did their attention pass through him as if the seat had been bare.

"Yashiro… those weren't invitations to study together and you know it…"

Soon the boy rose up, his frayed backpack dangling down behind him from straps that dangled precariously with only a few threads to keep it hanging.

"We'll still be friends when High school starts, right Suzuki?!"

As one junior high wrapped his arms around another, wordlessly the distant boy put one foot in front of the other. In a trance, he passed them by.

"Stop being so weird, let go of me dude!"

The boy was gone.

* * *

Passing by shelves inside a convenience store outstretched a hand from the pocket of a school issued jacket. Clutching a small bag labeled 'Melon Bread' he lifted it up and kept walking forward past the doorway unnoticed. Sliding the crinkling package inside his front pouch where the hand had just been, without warning he sluggishly came to a stop.

There was no hesitation in his limbs, nor fear in his eyes.

With some more crinkling of plastic he dropped the bread back onto the nearest vacant shelf space and let his free hand fall to his side as he turned around and walked right back out onto the busy street.

The stride of his feet dragged more purposefully with each stranger his shoulders carelessly brushed against. Eventually a shadow loomed over the boy as he approached a large apartment complex.

Automatic doors opened at the call of an electronic ding and his gaze finally rose from his feet and scanned the lobby for something or someone.

He hadn't been inside here before.

Tightly packed inside of an elevator with adults carrying suitcases and luggage, the boy watched the lighted row of buttons designated for the floors of the building. The residents were making several stops, but not the right one. He forced his hand through as passengers hastily traded places with one another and lit up the top key.

His demeanor earned him a few passing glances, but closing his eyes and leaning back, he let out a long, drawn out breath through his nose. Listening to the slide of the metal jaws of the elevator let out individuals one by one, finally the ascent reached its peak and as his eyes opened, he was suddenly the only one remaining.

The distant sound of machinery and a chorus of people reached his ears. He had not quite reached his destination.

The blue sky sprawled above him as the elevator quietly shut behind him. On the rooftop there was little to see, but the boy didn't look around. Stepping up onto the elevated edge, he looked down below at the countless traveling specks of people.

All with lives of their own, all going somewhere, saying something, and all unaware of what was going on above them.

His lips parted and he whispered only for himself to hear. "I… just wanted to be happy." Those softly spoken words as his last breath, he raised one foot and put it front of the other as he did so many times before. He shut his eyes so he did not have to see what was to come.

 _Time to die._

A step into the sky, his body careened forward and the boy casually dropped from atop the twenty-three-floor building.

Gusts of air tearing through his limbs and clothes, gripping his limps and twirling him as if he was a small toy, he heard the wind whistling sharply past his ears muting the approaching sound of civilization.

The rush of cool atmosphere blasting past him.

Spinning.

Flailing.

Then overwhelming silence.

Stillness.

 _I'm still conscious? He thought. Don't tell me there's an afterlife after all? If I can't get away from living then what is the point in dying…_

There wasn't silence. The familiar, faint sounds of the hustle and bustle of crowds gradually reached his ears. In disbelief, he cracked open his eyes and the bright blue sky returned into his view.

His body was dangling. Looking down he saw his feet swaying side to side helplessly and far beneath them the blissfully unaware populace.

I _… stopped falling? No… The people below are getting smaller. I'm… rising?_

White billowy feathers crawled out from side to side above him, and between those a face looking down on him bearing a smile, with alarmingly red eyes softly watching his reaction. It appeared to be a young girl, her features child-like; however, her skin was a perfect ivory unlike anything he has seen before. Then right above her short and equally white hair, floated what could only be called shining halos of light.

 _So, they are real… this has to be an angel, right? That means there really is a heaven… If that's where I'm heading, then maybe I could finally be…_

"I caught you just in time!" the cherubic being giggled. "Greetings, Mirai Kakehashi!"

"In time?" the boy muttered thoughtlessly.

"Yep! Look around, Mirai. There's no body on the ground and nobody is making a fuss. Of course you didn't die, not when I've caught you." Her grin grew wider, and her captive's mind finally started to turn with realization.

"Just drop me."

"What?!" she cried. "Why would I do that?! I'm your guardian angel after all."

"Guardian angel? Don't play with me… I did not ask for this. Let me go," the look of defeat returned to Mirai as his body went limp within the arms of his savior.

"No! I came here to make you happy, Mirai. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Happy? I've given up on that… It can't happen. I was never meant to be happy. Not ever since…" He exhaled as if lacking the effort to talk and explain himself. "Please… let me die."

The angel's cheer faded. "Ever since you've lost your parents in a fire and had to live with your aunt."

Mirai's eyes widened and he tried to turn and look back at this strange being.

"After they took you in, they quickly grew cold. They had two children but all of the chores were given to you. Whenever you messed up, they beat you until they grew tired of it. Their kids would join and pick on you but you were not allowed to defend yourself. And now your parents will be expecting you to be getting a job so you can hand them your paycheck."

Mirai listened in disbelief as she listed out every bit of his miserable life matter-of-factly.

 _She really does know everything… maybe she really_ is _a guardian angel._

"I have no friends in school… no goal of my own… not even anywhere else to go. You understand then that I have no hope to live, right? So…"

"Exactly!" the angel's bliss jarringly bloomed again. "That's why I, Nasse, am here to grant you the hope to live!"

"How could I possibly get anything like that?"

"It's easy! For starters, with the freedom to go anywhere you want in a matter of seconds; or the power of love, the kind that can replace friends and family with everyone around you."

"You can't give those to someone… You can't touch or see freedom and love…"

"Hm? You're looking at one of them right now, Mirai!" she looked to her right as the large, motionless wings reached out into the sky, expanding far out in front of them. "Angel wings! They can make anyone fly faster than the human eye can see! That is the freedom to be wherever you wish."

The wings suspended the pair in the air without flapping or concern for the air around them as if time had stopped.

 _Impossible…_

"And then there's love…"

Her delicate arms had been wrapped under Mirai's own, until she took one out miraculously without affecting Mirai's security in the air. A vibrant, glowing ring hovered mysteriously around the wrist of her raised arm. Suddenly a deep red spot began to crystallize in her hand that matched the color of the ring, growing until finally it formed a pointed, translucent diamond. His junior high instructor would have rather called it an octahedron.

It had appeared from nothing, as if it had been imagined into thin air.

"This is an angel's arrow! Specifically, a Red Arrow. Pierce a person with this and they will fall deeply in love with you for thirty-three days, cherishing you more than they ever thought they could care for anyone."

A laugh, more like a cough, escaped his lips. "A cupid's arrow? Give me a break…"

"You don't find them lovely? Just say the word and both can be yours, Mirai. I need your permission."

Rolling his eyes, the drifting boy gave a disillusioned shrug. "Yeah, sure, whatever. Then will you go away?"

"Here you go!" she waved her hand with the strange band around it and the so-called Red Arrow moved with it as if notched in place with an invisible string in her fingertips. Just as quickly as it appeared, it folded in on itself like a puzzle until it vanished as if it had never been there. Her hand free, she pointed up above her head.

Looking closely, it wasn't simply one halo she wore but a tightly packed set of four. Wagging her finger like a wand, one by one they spun out of place until only the center disk remained while the other three, with a life of their own, descended to a bewildered Mirai.

"What are those—" the boy called out before the rings rammed into his right arm and neck and he reflexively reached up to protect himself as a sheering sound clicked three times. However, there was no pain. No blood on his hands. Blinking, Mirai couldn't believe it.

Two of them had now surrounded his wrist and the last he could see below his chin—it was now resting a few inches around the base of his neck.

"Think of them as what you humans call accessories. These two bracelets hold your arrows and this necklace here carries your very own wings!"

"No! What the hell!" Mirai panicked as he continued to grasp at the bright objects, only to discover they were not objects at all. "Why can't they come off?!"

"Why do you want them off? You can't do that, they cannot interact with the physical world. These are celestial gifts. The material realm cannot interfere with these."

"They're stuck? This makes no sense!"

"Don't worry! No one else can see them. Only angels and those like you can see them! Here, let's get you back to the rooftop and you can see for yourself!"

The girl who called herself Nasse held him tighter and turned the two around, now arriving where Mirai had stepped off only moments before. Gently, she set him in the center and floated off to the side with a giddy expression.

A few moments of silence went before as they started at each other.

"Go on! Bring out your wings! Fly!"

 _Can I really do that? There's no way…_

"Just call for them. Think about your wings and they'll answer!"

The boy shook his head. "Come on out, angel wings…" He exhaustedly called out while raisings his hands. "Or something," he added, suddenly embarrassed.

No later did the sound of what could have been endless sheets of cloth being shook out, his angel's necklace reacted and from an ethereal space behind him a couple of outrageously large limbs made from feathers spread out into the world.

"So huge! They really came out! W-Wings…" the boy's head spun left and right as he took in the breadth of these strange appendages.

"It's okay! Like I said, they can't hit anything, and almost no one can spot them. When you take off, nothing at all can stop you. Now come on, get off the ground!" Her smile got even bigger, surely it could not grow further, and she was now practically shooing him away.

The boy's dubious expression began to be replaced with shock, "I can… fly?" Before he could finish his breath, his feet lost the hard surface beneath him and he was being propelled upward by a force unknown, and his shock now gave way to sheer terror.

His cry was snuffed out as he faded out of view in a flash of light, now hurtling towards a direction Mirai had no clue of, and the country around him stretched into a dazzling panorama as it passed him by as if a spun globe.

Buildings he didn't recognize waved by faster than he could take notice.

Clouds buffeted his body; he chased the bend of the horizon.

Land was gone. Crashing waves of nothing but blue ocean as far as the eye could see.

But he could see more. The sky darkened and streams of light filled the sky, countless stars dragged across his saturated vision, and the afternoon of Japan had become just a distant memory. Clock towers and foreign landscapes blossomed in sight.

Then for a moment his view blurred, and warmth slid across his cheeks.

 _Why am I crying?_

 _I had always dreamt as a kid to fly away, far away, and let the skies carry me._

 _The world… I didn't know it was so beautiful. This is incredible._

As his mind went to ease, he thought to stop and take a proper look, and he had now arrived at even further destination, his feet landing on top of a temple in an untamed forest. The boy had recognized its shape in history books, an ancient ziggurat built by people who've long since been dead.

Resting on the hard stone, he gazed out into the wilderness. Green, so much green.

 _This is freedom, huh?_

"Wow! You did great! You only screamed out for a moment!"

A bubbly voice called out and the angel from before practically popped into the atmosphere a few feet from the boy.

"Well… I stepped off a building just a couple moments ago without wings, so…" he passively remarked, before looking up to where the voice came from. Whatever he said, it never affected her.

"Did you have fun? If you move that fast, you can steal whatever you want and never be caught. No one could stop you!" she laughed.

 _Is she for real right now?_

"And the Red Arrows, they can control the minds of anyone! You wouldn't need to steal anything from them, they'd give you whatever you ask for. Awesome, right?"

"Are you…" he hesitated, as if unsure if he should ask. "Are you really an angel?"

"Huh?" Totally innocent, her head tilted. "Yes, I am your angel."

"Stealing… brainwashing…" he dropped her heavy gaze and looked downward. "Those are the kind of things a demon would be suggesting…"

Her mouth's edges went up instantly, back to usual. "Ha! There are no such things as demons. If they exist, they would only be found in the hearts of man."

Mirai remembered the melon bread he had considered stealing before and unconsciously folded in on himself.

"I mean," she put a finger to her chin thoughtfully, "your aunt and her husband would definitely have their heart filled with demons after having taken the lives of others."

His heart skipped a beat.

"Did you just say… they committed murder?!"

"Your parents and little brother, Mirai." She didn't skip a bit. "It looked like a car accident but they caused that fire to kill them."

"No…" He was on his feet. "Why are you lying to me?"

"I've been watching you all along Mirai, I know everything about you." Then she added firmly, "I'm not lying to you."

 _Angels, wings, murder… is this all a joke?_

Mirai buried his face in his hands, hiding it all from view.

"Why don't you use your arrows?" he could her voice closer. "Anyone affected by the Red will answer any question you have. I promise you, Mirai."

His hands slowly parted from his horrified expression and his eyes fell down onto the rings clinging to his right hand.

The boy was gone.

* * *

Warm beer slid down the woman's throat as the can tipped back, upended, pouring every last drop of the dark liquid before a loud crackle of metal as she crushed the now empty container and lazily tossed it onto the other side of the couch.

On a small, fuzzy screen another woman slapped a handsome man across the face and stormed out of a room as dramatic music played. With a flick the visual changed and revealed a game show with a individual inside of large shower, covered in glue, as money poured down and he desperately tried to stick every piece of paper that flew down while an applauding, roaring crowd cheered vicariously.

"Tsk… There's nothing good on…" The woman now held a small remote, pointing at the television set, which she similar chucked to the side as she reclined back into the sofa in resignation, raising her other hand that was followed by a trail of smoke. She raised the cigarette delicately in her fingers to her reddened lips and inhaled deeply, shutting her heavily outlined eyes.

After taking a long drag out of the cigarette and exhaled a plume of smoke, she opened her eyes and jerked forward in her seat out of fright. "You scared me, you creep!"

A boy with a bizarre, intense look in his eyes. The front door hung wide open.

"Close the damn door. You're late. The dishes, the garbage, the laundry, trying to put all onto your cousins, hm? Who do you think you are?"

"I really don't want my aunt to fall in love with me… but I guess I don't have a choice."

He raised his right hand straight across and aimed at the dumfounded woman. Otherworldly bracelets activated and inches from the reach of his fingers an eight-sided glass with a stretched, sharp looking tip was produced, indistinguishably from when an angel had done so before him.

"Um… excuse me?" she gritted her teeth, but not from the spectacle. There was no spectacle. The boy was just behind her with a raised arm. "Are you going to hit me? You wouldn't dare!"

As she rose from her seat after crushing her cigarette in an ash tray on a nearby table, the Red Arrow protruded outward in a line of crimson that stretch from the boy and directly into the chest of his aunt.

She didn't cry out in pain. There was no force from the impact.

The only reaction was her ceased advance. Her face betrayed a sense of rushing sensation. The boy watched her cautiously, not knowing what to expect next.

"Mirai…" escaped her lips. Her eyes found the boy again and she drifted towards him. The gentleness in her expression, the soft tone—he had never even known such things were possible from this cold woman.

Reflexively Mirai stepped back away from her but she caught up and gripped onto his jacket and pleaded him, "Oh Mirai… I'm so glad you're home. Where have you been? I've missed you so much…" Her eyes lingered over to the bedroom door on the other side of the living room they were in. "But my husband…"

"Did…" he stuttered, flabbergasted from this blushing, grown woman, a relative, and a person he has despised from the bottom of his heart, was hanging off of him in desperation. She tried to bring her face closer to his. "Did… Did you and uncle…"

He shoved her back forcefully and his aunt gasped. "Did you and uncle kill my parents?!" The question took everything out of him, suddenly he was out of breath, and his heart pounded in anxiety.

The rosy color of her cheeks vanished to white and she backed away. Before his eyes, once again in mere seconds she completely transformed; from a school girl with a crush to a lady about to shatter in pieces.

"N-No… I mean… I didn't want to! I love you!" Her eyes erupted tears that were nowhere near in sight just a moment ago, which poured down her shaking face. "It was all my husband's fault! Yes, your uncle!"

Mirai's mouth and eyes widened in disbelief.

 _Mom. Dad. My little brother… Akira…_ It was years ago, but he remembered them keenly.

So keenly.

"Why… Why would you do something like that? Tell me!"

She turned away from him as if in physical pain, pulling at her hair. "My father had a large estate… he refused to die. Then your uncle said that if my older brother died, your father, he… he said that it would all go to us! Please forgive me, baby! I love you!"

His stomach turned in revulsion at her words. The room started to spin in his head as he clung to the nearest wall for support.

"What the hell is with all the screaming? I can't get any sleep… Oh, Mirai's back home?"

An unsightly man with a disheveled appearance, wearing a tank top revealing his hairy chest and arms, entered the room with a grumpy expression while scratching his belly.

His aunt turned on him in a second. "He's the one that caused the car accident! He knew that your family take you and your brother to school every morning… he did something to the car that caused an explosion!"

The man stopped in his tracks, his jaw dropping. "What… why are you saying this in front of him?!" Something snapped in his expression, and he went into a rage. His large form jumped forward and suddenly he had a hold of his wife and his knuckles turned white in his iron grip. His face was twisted in an ugly rage.

He had meant to die that day, Mirai recalled. He had forgotten his art homework and had to go retrieve it As he had ran across the sidewalk a massive boom sounded behind him and he lost his footing. When he had turned over and looked back, the three most important people in the world to him were engulfed in flames.

His survival had only meant that he got to live with his family's killers and be treated like a slave. They were nice to him initially, welcoming even. But as soon as they came upon some money, that money not meant for them, any resemblance to their warm reception vanished.

 _I should be dead. I should have been in the car with them…_

"No…" Mirai spat out. He had slid down from the wall and hit the floor. His voice was nearly inaudible. A venomous sob. "No! I'm not the one who should have died! It should have been you!"

"Ow!" a cry went out.

A scratch now ran down his uncle's face from where his aunt had clawed him to escape his violent embrace. She stumbled away frantically and crashed into a kitchen cabinet, then looked at Mirai.

Her face was a mess from the tears running through her makeup, and as she watched her nephew curse him while crumpled onto the floor, she trembled as if in immense distress. Her hands reached for the drawers and she pulled one back so hard it came loose. Her hand saved one thing that came flying out.

"What are you doing…" the uncle took a step back, sweat beading down his face.

Mirai looked up from his curled position.

He would soon wish he had never raised his head.

"I love you, Mirai! I'm so sorry! I deserve—" her voice cut off into a sickening spurt as she dragged her arm across her neck.

She had grabbed a large kitchen knife.

"A-Aunt?! What is she doing?" Mirai shot up to his feet in a flash.

"It's because you told her to die."

The angel had been right outside the open door watching and now floated over as if gravity did not exist for her.

Blood erupted out of the gaping cut as she didn't hesitate to shove the blade deeper inside her throat until she dropped into a pool of a dark red puddle.

Mirai's hand covered his mouth as a new wave of nausea came over him. "The Red Arrow… it has that much power?! All I did was… I mean… I just…" he struggled to catch his breath, as if he had just been sprinting.

His uncle hadn't moved in inch, he had become no different than a statue. Then came his voice escaping through a slack jaw, "Ambulance… we need an ambulance."

"It's too late for that. I can tell, since I'm an angel," she answered him, although he could not hear her. "Look over there, you can see her own angel coming down and taking her soul away." A glowing, porcelain figure had descended right through the ceiling, heeding no mind to the living or even Nasse, and started to pull a clear image out of his aunt like pulling a sheet off a bed. It was a snow-white replica of his aunt that he could see right through… her soul… and without comment departed the house. "See? She's dead."

 _She's dead._

 _She took a knife and stabbed herself and now she is dead._

 _One moment she was alive and the next she is gone._

 _Just like my father, mother, and brother…_

Mirai gripped his chest as his breathing grew louder. His heart pounded, blood pumping throughout his body at a rapid pace. Each pump an affirmation.

 _I'm alive._

 _I'm alive!_

A memory unfolded in his mind that he had long since buried in his subconscious.

 _It was an ordinary afternoon with his mother inside their home. Mirai was barely able to look over the countertop where they stood, even atop the footstool he balanced on. In his small hands there was a picture of four stick figures smiling outside next a tree. A picnic._

 _"Look at what I drew mommy!" he had demanded proudly for her attention._

 _She looked down fondly at her son and then to the piece of paper covered in crayon._

 _"Everyone looks so happy, Mirai." She smiled back down at the small child. "I always believed that people were born to be happy, just like this. That people keep on living for the sake of being happier. That's what I choose to think. So Mirai… promise me that you'll try and live a happy life, the way you drew us. Okay?"_

He screamed.

As loud as he could.

"Mirai! Are you okay?" his guardian angel drew close, airborne as always.

"…That's right… I completely forgot… I have to live…"

 _I tried to kill myself… What have I been doing all this time?_

The picture he had drawn was long gone, like much of what he had from that time. Much of it was lost over the years living with his aunt and uncle who did not wish to be reminded of his family and how things were.

But the memory was etched into his heart and soul.

"I have to live… for my family… Mirai rose to his feet slowly as he wiped his face to remove the tears.

"Yes! That's right! That is why I am here!" the angel motioned enthusiastically. "Every human can find hope, no matter who they used to be. I, the angel of innocence, Nasse, promise this!"

 _Promise…_

Mirai turned to this endlessly positive being. "You claim to be my guardian angel and to have been watching over me all this time. You say you want me to be happy… but why haven't I seen you until today? Why now, when I had almost thrown everything away?"

"I'm sorry Mirai… We can't do anything other than what we are ordered… Angels can't normally come down unless they are to ferry the dead."

Eyebrows raised, the boy asked, "Orders? Does that mean…?"

"From God. Who else?" she nodded.

 _God…_

Mirai looked around and was reminded of his uncle nearby, yelling unintelligibly into a phone and throwing on a jacket.

"Okay… fine. I want to be happy." He turned away from his uncle, his aunt, and what had been his home and his hell for almost as long as he can remember, and went out the door, followed by his guardian angel.

By the time his uncle came over, crying out for his nephew… there was no sign of him.

* * *

 _ **Earlier, a day in Earth's time…**_

"The end of my seat in the celestial realm is nigh…"

It was a voice that traveled not through air by time and space. It echoed and bounced across the starry void, reaching the souls of those addressed.

"Over the ages I have done my best to grow and protect mankind. But now it is necessary that we find the next human to replace me up on high. A younger, fresher power, to watch over the world as I have done."

The overpowering waves of thought came from a dark figure, long hair cascading down his head. It seemed to be a person, and it seemed not. Wrapped inside a sphere of blinding light his visage was only a dark silhouette.

"Custom dictates that this individual is to be chosen among the thirteen angels I have gathered here. Each of you must select one candidate across the divide between the material and the celestial, and link yourselves to them, providing a connection to here and there."

Scattered in a uniform pattern were the very same numbered angelic beings that held their focus entirely on the speaker. Their appearances drastically differed from one another. A human's body chiseled out of a marble and adorned with feathers across their shoulders, arms, neck, feet, and anywhere else.

One among them was the angel known as Nasse, rather petite in comparison and perpetually smiling, with a hint of determination in her eyes.

 _This is my chance! I am going to make him happy!_

"Whoever is selected to be the next god of mankind will have their allotted angel retire into a life of peace and tranquility at their side, serving as their right hand."

The other angels did not dare respond, or were not capable, but they each ruminated in their own thoughts and feelings.

 _I've risen my way to the top, special rank… I am tired of ferrying the dead._

 _I shall pick the first human I come across and try to finish up with this god selection process immediately…_

 _I'm only a second-rank… what hope do I have of granting my candidate success?_

"Your dictated time limit is nine-hundred, ninety-nine days on Earth starting…" the drift of consciousness paused for a moment.

"…Now."

Thirteen angels there were, and thirteen angels had gone.

Down to Earth, to find a human.

Their next master.


	2. Chapter 2: Man's Nature

**Story by Tsugumi Ohba.** Please support the official release of his work. The following is an adaptation of the original manga in novel format purely for the sake of enjoyment and the practice of writing.

CHAPTER 2: A MAN'S NATURE

"What are you drawing this time, Mirai?"

"Homework," a small boy answered right away, eyes glued to the construction paper held in place on a clipboard on his lap. His right hand went back and forth, back and forth, the sound of crayon being rubbed against its surface filled the air.

The nearby woman was sitting down on a blanket tossed over a hill under the shade of a tree. Wind gently caressed her hair, held down from a round hat to keep the bright sun out of her eyes. She began to lean over sneakily, a mischievous smile creeping onto her lips.

Anticipating the attempt, the boy covered the sheet of paper immediately and looked over his shoulder. "No! I'm not done yet! I have to finish first!"

She chuckled as she gave up and the repetitious strokes of his crude drawing resumed.

He was drawing his family. His mother and himself sitting peacefully with a basket of homemade food. His father running up and down the slopes of the field with his younger brother sitting on top of his shoulders squealing with elation.

He was almost. Just a little more—

"Why did you kill me?"a guttural voice croaked.

The boy gasped and jerked back from his drawing.

It sounded so close.

"Why would you murder me, Mirai?!"

It grew louder and louder and suddenly the boy's picture tore open from the center and a melting, grey face lunged out of behind the gaping hole made and a hand rose up to catchi his face.

Mirai screamed and tossed the clipboard away and attempted to get back up to flee but tripped over his own feet, landing on his bottom, kicking backwards to get as far away as he could.

The picture landed only a few feet away. The hand groped around until finding the ground and the undead woman crept out of the clipboard.

Her face. Her clothes. She looked familiar.

In the other hand she revealed a knife.

"We took you in… we raised you… and this is how you repay your aunt and uncle?!"

"N-No! You're the ones who killed my family!" the boy protested, finally getting his legs back firmly on the ground.

The crazed woman's eyes were dark pits that stared directly at Mirai. She took the knife in her hand and repeatedly jabbed at her neck. Her tightly stretched skin made a sickening suction, gushing noise as it wrapped around the length of the blade.

She was entirely onto the ground now, sliding across the short, green grass, inching closer.

"How dare you kill me?!"

His legs were frozen. Petrified.

As she reached him, she took the knife out of her neck and raised it up high, getting onto her knees, and hollered at the top of her lungs as she struck downward towards his own neck.

* * *

Gasping for breath.

Beads of sweat pouring down his face.

Mirai sat on the floor of an unlit hotel room, right next to the bed, which he had removed a blanket from and wrapped around his body. His scream alerted another presence nearby.

"Awake already? You were only asleep for an hour…" It was the angel, intrusively hovering in his space. "Another nightmare?"

"No… No, I'm fine," He rubbed his face and eyes with his hands.

No matter how many times he tried to sleep, he woke up. The hotel didn't go away. The angel didn't go away. Mirai couldn't get away.

As he curled up inside of his covers, she continued. "You used your arrows only once and that was to just get this hotel room and you haven't left for three days… Why don't you go out and use them to enjoy yourself?"

There was a recliner nearby where a plastic grocery bag lay with a few items inside. On the floor there was some change haphazardly dumped, all of the remaining change from the money had saved from his time at home. What was left was barely enough to get a bite-sized snack. On a chair set his backpack from school, but inside of it was only a few notepads and utensils. Next to that was a set of papers filled with print from top to bottom.

"I can't…" he said under his breath. "I'm only living here off of the power of these arrows… I didn't earn it." His eyes went to the mystifying bracelets on his right hand. "You tell me to control people and also to steal things… but all I'd be doing is taking happiness away from others for myself and not trying to find any on my own."

"What's wrong with that? I gave you those arrows so you can do what you have to in order to be happy. That's what you said you wanted, right?"

"It is what I said… but how can I be happy if the only way to do that is to make those around me suffer? I don't think anyone can really be happy if those they surround themselves are losing the right to theirs..." Mirai took a deep breath. "If I can't enjoy others being happy, then I'd never be at peace…

"My mother used to say that if you knew someone was suffering, you can't really be happy until you've helped them find their own. Otherwise we would be happy about a world where another can't bring themselves to smile. It's no different than finding joy in their misery."

"She sounds like a good mother," she noted with a finger to her chin thoughtfully. "Most humans find hope in living by comparing themselves to others… I figured if I gave you wings and arrows, you'd be delighted just like anyone else. Or at least, if you became god, you would be able to find your happiness."

Mirai looked up and went to speak but hesitated, thinking he had just misheard her.

"Hey… what did you just say? About god?"

Her reaction was slow, the cogs of her mind turning, until suddenly she gasped and brought her hands to her mouth for effect. "Oh no! I totally forgot to tell you!"

"Tell me what?" a hint of dread lingered in Mirai's tone.

"We, thirteen of us angels, came down to Earth in order to fulfill our master's order. He's dying… with each passing moment his power grows weaker… we only have a bit under three human years to find someone to replace him…"

"Your master? You mean… god? _The_ god? Dying? And you want to replace him with a person?" Mirai's suspension of disbelief had been shaken the past few days to their core, but even now he experienced a sensation of whiplash. None of what she said made any sense.

"Yes," she nodded as if that was the most natural conclusion. "Thirteen of us came down to Earth and chose a human to give our blessings," she pointed to her halo, "based on our celestial rank, and tell them they can use them however they wished. Then the most suitable candidate would be chosen for the position of god for us to serve."

"That can't be… why would you pick me to do something like that?" Mirai threw off his covers and rose to his feet and motioned to their surroundings. "I can't even take care of myself. How could I possibly be a god for everyone?"

"But if you aren't chosen, you'll lose your wings and arrows."

"I don't need them, Nasse… People don't need these to be happy… in order to find normal happiness for my own. Not someone else's."

"Normal… happiness?" It was now the angel's turn to be lost.

"Yeah. A place to sleep. Food to eat. School to study in. A steady job to work at. Then eventually one day… someone to start a family with. The kind of happiness my parents had before it was taken away."

"I see…" she murmured as if she did not actually see anything.

"But I admit… I'll need some money to start with. I need to find some work. I may need to use the Red Arrow for that…"

"That isn't necessary!" Nasse shook her head. "Why don't you just kill your uncle and his family! Then all of their money would go to you since they adopted you!"

"What are you saying?!" he balked, terror forming in his expression. "You just want me to take their lives and be like them?!"

"No, it's different! They took what was yours, so you'd just be taking it back, right?" She smiled and put her hands together reassuringly. "You could even use your Red Arrow on your uncle to kill him just like your aunt."

The image of his aunt in the kitchen uninvitedly entered his mind, and he shuddered. "That's not what… I didn't know that would happen…"

The silence that fell afterwards felt heavy. Final. The angel didn't notice.

"Well, your cousins didn't kill your family, so they probably wouldn't feel like they deserve to die so the Red Arrows wouldn't work on them…"

Pushed to the edge, Mirai snapped. "Stop talking about killing like it is so easy!"

"But it _is_ easy, Mirai." She pointed at his bracelets, "You see two there? Red is only one kind of Arrow to use. The other is the White Arrow, a right given to only angels who reach special rank like I have."

"White… Arrow?" he raised his right hand and looked closely at how there were in fact two rings encircling his wrist. As he considered it, an arrow began to form.

A snow-white glitter began to shift within the grasp of his hand. Quickly the shape grew into a precise point exactly like the Red Arrow, except it sparkled and was entirely void of any color.

"Pierce anyone with this arrow," the angel explained, "and they will die instantaneously. Its touch is one-hundred perfect fatal to any and all life."

"Instant death?!" he moved his hand away from his face and body like it was dipped in acid. "An arrow like this… why would an angel have this?!"

"Easy. It is entirely painless. The White Arrow is used to peacefully facilitate the passage of the living to the afterlife. It is an arrow of divine mercy! So, if you use these, you can get rid of those that torment you without making them suffer! Isn't that perfect?"

Mirai's eyes light up as he watched the glow of the killer arrow. "When people lose their life, they lose their chance at happiness… I'm grateful to you for showing me that Nasse." The pale glow of the arrow vanished from his face as he called for it to go away in his heart and mind. Likewise, the excitement in Nasse's own expression dimmed. "I don't need to use this White arrow that takes away people's chance at happiness."

"Instead, I will use the Red Arrow on my uncle, but not like before. I will tell him to turn himself in so he can pay for his crimes. After that they are in the hands of the law."

"Hmm… okay, if you say so…" she conceded with a diminished spirit. "Well then! Why don't we go and make him confess right now!" Pepping herself up again, she flew over to Mirai and began to pull on his jacket to get him moving.

"Not right now!" he protested, desperately reaching for the nearby desk. "There's not much time left to apply for the secondary applications for high school." She let him go and he grasped at the papers and looked at the daunting amount of text on the front and back of the sheets in his hands. He wasted the last few days, and he resolved to end his escape from reality here and now.

As he sat down on the single couch in the residence, he glanced at a remote on the arm of the seat and absent-mindedly tapped the power button as he prepared to finally get started. Jotting down information at the top of the first page, the T.V. set flickered and the default channel had been set onto a news channel. For some time, it played, serving as background noise while Mirai focused single-mindedly, pen to paper. Meanwhile, Nasse scooted up close to the flashing images in fascination, listening to stories about the stock market, sports, and lawsuits. Until eventually, an interview came up.

"Tonma Rodriguez, a local comedian, has returned to his romantic exploits, now adding two young pop idols and a fashion model to his notorious entourage of dates! Here making his first appearance on live television, Tonma will be here to explain it all!"

Inwardly Mirai groaned, tuning out the noise and continuing to fill out each line of necessary information. Nasse pouted, landing onto the other side of the crouch with her knees huddled to her chest, wings folding in on themselves.

 _I really thought I'd be able to make him happy…_

Nasse hugged her legs and tried to look around for something to get her fluctuating spirit back up. That is when something caught her eye on the television.

"Just days ago, the professional beach volleyball player Yuki Kotani, actress Eriko Minamikawa, and centerfold model Moyu Maeshima all came out onto social media claiming to be in an open relationship with a comedian that few people have even heard of."

A lady with a microphone in a business suit and glasses chatted away before turning to a tall, tan foreigner with blond hair at her side. The look on his face was that of a man with intense satisfaction, attention forward, mugging for the camera. "Here to answer our trending questions, this is the man himself! Tonma, are you truly going out with all six of them at once?"

Immediate howling laughter.

"Mirai look at the television. Hurry! Can't you see it?"

Looking up disinterestedly at the small screen, he saw the pair standing in a press conference. Nothing he would ever really be watching… but something was off. Mirai looked closely at the man being interviewed. There was a strange vibrant wrist band on his right hand that didn't fit.

"Wait… is that…" he compared his own right hand to the gloating man. "Is that truly… an angel's halo? Surely not… but it looks so strange…" Strange indeed, and no one commented on it, but instead on his infamous affairs with some of the most popular women online in Japan.

"Some people just don't have what it takes," shrugged Tonma. "But others, like me, are just blessed with divine good looks that ladies just can't resist. My jokes always make them laugh. Any beautiful ladies listening to this broadcast, I guarantee you'll fall for my charms. Come on women of the world, find me!" He ended with a pose pointing at the camera with a wink.

"Incredible! A challenge to all around the world. Never has something like this happened in recent history… Huh, what's wrong Tonma?"

The comedian was looking the newswoman up and down, eyes crawling around her legs and chest.

She backed away shivering at the sight of this man visually taking every inch of her in. "T-Tonma? Is there something on me?"

"Hmmm…" he rubbed his chin, a cross between stroking it and also wiping away saliva dripping from his mouth. "News anchor Ms. Mii Yamada. Late twenties… a bit older than my type. But you do look cute with those glasses… I guess I'll use my last one."

Yamada laughed nervously, "Sorry Tonma, ha. I'm happily married. I have been for almost three years now. So please don't gaze at me like—"

He lifted his hand without the slightest restraint and conjured up a crimson prism-like object and it launched directly into her bosom, creating a colorful streak connecting between her and his bracelet.

"A Red Arrow! That was a Red Arrow!" Mirai stopped moving his pencil. Right on television, a man just used a Red Arrow on someone.

For a second, nothing happened. The arrow was gone and they stood there. Mirai had used the same weapon twice now and he understood how it worked. He knew what was about to happen.

"T-Tonma…" she dropped the microphone, the loud magnification of the bang off the floor rang in their ears. She at first sheepishly tipped nearer, until suddenly a wind of passion took over and she leaped into the arms of the man whose eyes never stopped examining her. "Tonma!"

The cameraman called out to what was happening as she began eagerly professing love to this man she just met, wedding ring still on her finger.

"Don't worry, girl. You're my favorite," he smirked as he put his hands on her and winked at the camera.

Before things could advance any further the live feed stopped and the channel went back to the news room with its main hosts, an older set of men and women.

"Excuse me viewers, it would seem we would be having… um, technical difficulties with our live footage," the man awkwardly remarked, looking around behind the camera for direction.

"I can't believe it!" the other woman squawked. "Openly admitting to six-timing women to the public! What disgraceful behavior!"

The news man took a moment to compose himself, "Yes… There were rumors circulating that this was a large publicit stunt on behalf of the comedian in order to expand his audience, but each of these women are stepping forward and admitting fully to exactly that. It doesn't add up… how does a man like that get all these women? I'm a much nicer man that him!"

"Okay Mr. Sato… we get it."

Swiftly the channel started to find something else to bury what just happened from any incoming viewers, defaulting to discussions of politicians.

"I'm sure many humans would think to use the arrows in this way…" Nasse spoken flatly.

"But didn't you say yourself and the other angels are here to find a new god?" Mirai cringed with worry. "Who would ever make someone like that take care of people?"

"He intends to spend the thirty-days of the angel's power being loved," she held no sign of disgust in her tone. "That is a valid use of the Red Arrows. There aren't any rules that forbid you from using them in any situation."

"Thirty-three days? You've said that before…"

"Right. There are some kinds of rules that do apply," the topic now returning to the gifts she gave him, her hands and face became more animated. "Whenever a person if struck with a Red Arrow, they spend the next thirty-three days spellbound to the one that let it loose, or rather the owner of that arrow."

"What's the point of the limit? Couldn't they just be struck again to affect them longer?"

"You cannot. A person's soul is forever marked by the owner that pierced them. They cannot be controlled by the same individual again. That means the only way to get someone to keep being in love with you, is to convince them during the time limit to give you their devotion even when the Red Arrow leaves their body and returns to the one who fired it."

Devotion for thirty-three days…

Thirty-three full days totally at the whims of another…

"How do I save them?" Mirai had gotten up, a resolve burning within him.

"Huh?"

"I feel bad for these girls… Their happiness is being taken away and all given to this man. How can I save them? What do I have to do?"

Nasse frowned. "There isn't a way… not unless you intend to kill Tonma Rodriguez. When a god candidate dies, anyone with a Red Arrow lodged into their soul from that human will return to the blessing given to the deceased, which will then go back to the angel that imparted them with it all."

Mirai's energy visibly deflated. "So… there's no way to protect them at all then…"

"Well that's not completely true…" she said as if a reminder, catching Mirai's attention with an inquiring look, which prompted Nasse to once again gasp. "Oh no I did it again! I forgot to explain something. About our wings, Mirai!"

She blasted off the sofa and spread her wings and flashed from corner to corner of the room, popping in and out of vision. If Mirai blinked, he completely missed her.

"To hit a target with your arrow, they have to be in your sights, and the wings are the natural defense to being seen," her voice surged from every angle as she demonstrated her point by displaying the ability to appear in one place and then the next effortlessly.

"But even if someone fired an arrow, of either kind, within range of you, all you have to do is use your wings. Arrows are fast and lock onto their target, but if you vanish with a speed beyond what a human's eyes can keep up with, the arrow loses its aim and falls short, returning to where it originated."

At last she came to a stop back in the same position she was at the start, next to Mirai, and awaited his reaction with bated breath.

His shoulders slumped.

Nasse's did as well.

"I see… There is no way to help someone who has already been pierced by an arrow. For thirty-three days their will is forfeit…"

Lifting up the remote, he dejectedly hit the power again to turn off the television set and decided to fully commit to finishing his application.

* * *

The moans of lovers in an enclosed space.

Smacks of lips. The sliding of skin on skin.

Not between two, but many hands and lips.

"These arrows are the best… The country's best women all at my fingertips… I'm done with being a stupid comedian, ha ha! I'm already a god!"

A clothless Tonma Rodriguez sat in the back of a long limousine with a black interior. Filling the seats at either side, the space at his feet, were all equally naked women whose smiles and eyes were all focused at him, including upon his lap the news anchor that had just interviewed him. Each of them eager to please. Desperate.

"Tell them you love me too!" an unknown voluptuous woman begged him from the bed of the vehicle, pulling temptingly at his legs.

"Me too!"

"And me!"

One by one they pleaded for his recognition, and Tonma could only bring himself to laugh, spit oozing down his lips carelessly.

"Who should I go for next? Should I go for the porn industry? So many whores that I could pick from… Dammit, why can I only have fourteen arrows at once! I need more!" His hands insatiably began to squeeze and grope, each girl exaggeratingly called out with each touch.

Thump!

Click.

The door to Tonma's left unlocked itself and came open.

"Uh… this is a private limo… I think you guys got the wrong people… Go on and leave." Tonma clicked his tongue in annoyance and turned back to his nearest victim.

A large diamond frozen in air at the end of a costumed arm came through the door, point first. Peeking out carefully from the doorway was a helmet, a visor that covered the entire length of the intruder's identity, matching what could be seen of a colorful metallic suit covered in some lettering.

"The hell is that get up? You filming something?" Tonma's attention barely could leave the women at his command. "Wait… oh snap, you got an arrow too! It doesn't have any color… You firing blanks, dude? Ha!"

The visor tilted slightly, scanning the inside of the limousine. "Wow. You really did use all fourteen arrows on getting laid. What a total idiot, loser." It was a technologically scrambled voice, programmed to have an exaggerated valiant tone.

"Huh?" Tonma raised an eyebrow. "Wait, whoa, dude! What are you doing!" The masked man tilted his arm to point the arrow directly at the comedian. "I ain't into guys, bro!"

"You're not funny," came the anonymous voice. "You never were." In the next instant the White Arrow struck out in a flash, jammed straight into his groin as Tonma raised up his hands defensively.

He slumped forward as if the strings attached to his limps had been cut, eyes wide open.

He went still.

Red tips poked out of various spots of the surrounding women that began shaking his body, trying to get him to react to them. The points gradually emerged out until suddenly firing out, phasing through the limo, arcing back around, and were absorbed inside of the single bracelet held on his hand.

The next moment the girls were in a daze and all started looking at each other in shock, and then downward at their exposed bodies. High-pitched cries filled the cramped, velvet walls as they grabbed their stripped clothing and covered themselves before throwing open the doors and running as fast as they could away.

Stepping out of the way, the costumed character bowed and theatrically twirled the cape at his back, then called out, "You're welcome! You are now all free because of me, the brave Metropoliman! Are you all listening? I am the fabled Metropoliman."

None of the women paid him any mind as they scattered across the street in total disarray.

"Why was I doing that? Why did I let him do those things to me?!"

"My boyfriend! Oh god, what have I done?!"

The freed people now gone, he leaned back into the car and reached out to the bracelet on the lifeless body of Tonma Rodriguez. His own bracelets reacted magnetically and suddenly Tonma's slide off and wrapped around the killer's previously owned set of two.

"Only Red Arrows huh… A second-rank candidate. Almost a waste of time."

Wearing the visage of what would appear on a child's action super hero show, he stepped back out of the doorway. Two wings jumped out of his shoulders and in the same instant it appeared as if he had gone invisible. But he was already nowhere near the scene.

* * *

Exiting a high school later that day, Mirai walked past coming and going students with similar intentions as his own.

"What's next, Mirai?" His angel followed him everywhere he went, and the boy couldn't be bothered to shoo her away.

"Well… After submitting my application, all that is left is to study and make sure I can pass the exam when that day comes."

"Are you forgetting already? You have Red Arrows! Shoot a big shot at the school and get him to pass you!"

"You're the one forgetting, Nasse." Mirai snuck the angel a dirty look. "I want to get in on my own merit. If I used my arrows and cheated that would ensure I'd never belong…"

"Wow…" for once she didn't protest. "You really are dedicated to being independent from my gifts." Then a mischevious smile snuck onto her face. "But I bet once you see Saki Hanakago, you'll start to consider using one!"

He stopped dead in his tracks, his face immediately going beet red. "Y-You know about… I would never!"

"Heh!" she put a hand to her lips innocently. "I knew it! That's why you applied for this school, because you knew that _she'd_ be here too!"

Saki Hanakago… a friend from my childhood. But I never said that I liked her out loud. She really has been watching over me all this time…

"Not going to happen… If I did that, I'd never earn her trust. She would never be able to care for me when I took her happiness for my own like that!" Mirai dismissively turned on his heel and returned to walking away from the school.

"Oh, come on!" Nasse whined, foiled once again.

As they passed a group of young high school girls huddling over an electronic tablet, the kind with an online connection, they overheard their gasps.

"It says that he really just died! That Tonma guy was found in a limo totally naked in the parking lot of a TV station!"

"Whoa serves him right! He was so creepy!"

"The cause is unknown? I'm surprised he wasn't shot or stabbed, treating those women like that… was he poisoned by their husbands and boyfriends?"

 _Tonma… Wasn't that the name of…_

"Tonma Rodriguez… the god candidate!" Mirai's brain connected the dots. A man had used his arrows on live television for everyone to see and not even a few hours later… dead.

Nasse dropped her act for a moment and went tense. The inexplicable death of a god candidate…

It was starting.

* * *

Within the celestial realm…

A masculine angel with a muscular figure and bald head soar through the entrance to a land beyond the fabric of reality, and lowered to a still ocean over a cloud bed in a lightless void.

Standing at watch of the passage, two angels noted his arrival.

"Welcome back Luta. Out of the running so soon? You had just been chosen for the responsibility…"

"Not soon enough. I am pleased to be done with this tiresome business," the angel lowered into the depths of the water. In his hands was a glowing, pale Tonma Rodriguez, his soul. "My candidate was of no value or consequence. However, the one that killed him... Now that might be a mortal to consider following."

* * *

Back onto the material plain…

In a large private chamber with an expansive view of a sprawling city underneath, within the highest floor of a mansion, sat a young man with the company of a feminine angel.

She was elegant, mature, and wrapped in a collar of wings. Watching.

He was reclined back in total comfort, with a single hand aloft, a glistening star floating adrift his palm that expanded side by side, point by point. Just as breath taking as the forming arrow was the one that lifted it. The young man's clothes wreaked of style and wealth, but tightly and neatly worn for comfort and ease of movement.

His face was to match, an undoubtedly handsome face with clear skin, and a sinister smile played at the ends of his lips. Even his hair was clearly professionally kept and cleaned, bleached to drain it of its natural color.

"Kill eleven more candidates for the job and I am automatically hired?" he checked in again with his empyrean partner.

"Yes. I believe that to be the fastest course and most direct path to success."

The boy snickered as he imagined the completion of his White Arrow as he longingly watched it reflect its surroundings. "Fascinating… Can it really be this easy to make it all mine?"


	3. Chapter 3: Hero of Justice

**CHAPTER 3: HERO OF JUSTICE**

 _Earlier that week…_

"Whoa, are you sure this isn't a size too big for me?" spoke a garbled voice transmitted through a highly detailed, sharply angled helmet. In a faded color a stylistic letter 'M' covered the face of the visor, which was followed by letters E-T-R-O down the front of the body that were lit up like lights, spelling 'METRO'.

The wearer of the suit examined the costume that was practically a set of armor that looked as protective as it was outlandish, a cape at its back flapping in the light breeze. Next to him under the night sky of the expansive rooftop of an executive building was a man next to several large cases, most of them opened and empty, who seemed oddly shy and self-conscious.

"No, I swear. They were all three the same size. This one is no bigger than the suits designed for Yellow and Blue."

The individual in the 'METRO' suit flexed his fingers and tightly clenched them into a fist. "If you say so. By the way, don't tell anyone you gave me these suits, got it?"

"Sure," he said immediately. "Anything for you… Now can you tell me what your name is again?"

"Can't you see?" the hero-looking individual scoffed. "I'm Metropoliman. Now listen." He raised one metallic finger. "In one month, I want you to come back here, at three in the morning, and I will meet you. Understood?"

"Yes of course, I'd wait forever for you…"

The man masquerading as Metropoliman was already walking away and waved behind him. "Now I'm going to take off with this suit and become god. Later."

Lifting up a fist and tucking in the other arm, he posed in a stereotypical comic book character way and launched into the air without even the slight gust of wind from the lift off.

"Whoa… he really did it. He flew away…" the man with the cases sighed longingly.

* * *

 _April 6_ _th_ _, Shinjuku_

Passing through a shopping district, Mirai walked and Nasse floated adrift a crowd of chattering consumers. In one of his hands he held a small paper bag of groceries he had bought himself from a nearby market.

They had spent the trip almost entirely without exchanging a word or even a glance. Mirai's mind was clouded in a storm that no one could see but him. The angel herself was also deep in thought.

Attempting to lighten the mood, Nasse broke the prevailing quietude with an initial, "Umm…" She thought of a relevant topic. "Hey! Isn't it great you aced that test and got into your school! Turns out you didn't need to use your Red Arrow after all. You must be really smart!"

Without missing a step, he spat out a quick, "No. I'm not."

"B-But, I didn't even think about using your Red Arrow the way you did with your uncle! He turned himself right in and you ended up getting all the money without killing anyone! Now you've got yourself an apartment and we just finished our first bout of shopping for the start of your new life!" She jumped, as much as a floating angel could possibly jump, in peak levels of hyper-activity for her. "Isn't this great! Yippee!"

Mirai frowned.

Nasse got a glimpse of his face and the wind was taken from her sails.

"Isn't… this what you wanted? You have a school, you have a home, food to eat. Piece by piece we are building your life of normal happiness just the way you described. Why aren't you smiling?"

He swallowed as he tried to find the words. "I think I would have felt that way… if it wasn't for what we heard about Tonma Rodriguez..."

Mirai was introduced to his first candidate using the Red Arrow and then he ended up dead with no one able to diagnose the cause. All of the girls involved have been incredibly reluctant to give any public details and the police have been interrogating them and checking the scene of the crime. They couldn't make sense of who did it and how. For all they know, he had just passed away spontaneously.

 _A White Arrow…_

Both Nasse and Mirai thought to themselves the same thing. It had to have been. Someone with an angel went out, found Tonma, and murdered him.

 _What does this mean about Mirai's happiness… is he in danger?_

All around them were buildings with billboards and screens sending footage for advertisements, news, and various other kinds of media—large enough for anyone on the street to look up and take the broadcasted information in.

Not often do they all get in sync and stream from the same source, but the screens all shifted at the same time with a surprise live announcement from the locals came up with a jingle, causing all of the travelers going their separate ways to look up out of curiosity.

"Yes. It's Metropoliman here." An electronic voice boomed from building to building, filling the ears of everyone in the vicinity.

"From the children's show? When did they start showing this nonsense up on the screens?"

"Maybe it's a commercial for a movie?"

"No, it's actually him! Haven't you been reading online! The hero is real and has been kicking ass and taking names!"

The public came alive with feedback as many of them stood still to watch. Mirai came out of his daze and looked around at the spectacle.

"You can't believe everything you read… It's just some wild stunt. How can there be a real Metropoliman when he was just a made-up character that my kids watch every morning?"

On each of the screens appeared an individual dressed identically to the popular super hero Metropoliman, sitting back in a chair with one leg draped over the other on a stage with a woman holding up a microphone from her own chair. It was the evening news.

"Children all over Japan—no, all across the world are happy to hear that the hero Metropoliman is real," the lady with the microphone drummed up some conversation and motioned back to her counterpart.

"Yes. I will continue to fight evil and protect the peace."

A super hero?

Mirai was faced with yet another unbelievable situation. Instinctively he looked for any signs of an angel or any arrows, but the hero sitting on the stage was entirely bare aside from the ridiculous costume. However, having been spending days with his own angel blessings, he knows that the necklace and bracelet associated with their respective powers don't show themselves unless the user conjures them in thought to prepare for their activation.

Tonma Rodriguez had carried his Red Arrow always on his mind, whereas Mirai had no intent of using those powers without a proper reason and thus they were nowhere to be seen.

"It seems many people still think of today's events as fictional," remarked the interviewer, which prompted another set of grumbles around Mirai from the realists in the crowd. "However, the police department has officially made a statement endorsing your legitimacy and the heroic nature of your actions."

"I am thankful for their support," he folded his arms and his visor nodded slightly.

"But for the people who weren't there, let's show everyone the replay of the attempted bank robbery which you foiled earlier today. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you some questions along the way."

The camera zoomed out revealing another screen between the two showing a recording of the outside of a building surrounded by an arc of police vehicles with their doors open. Spread out between them were heavily armored policemen with bulletproof shields and helmets on standby.

A few seconds of no change goes by before a costumed hero lands amidst the policemen in a blur with unimaginable speed.

 _Those are…!_

"Wings!" Mirai called out in amazement. To his eyes and Nasse, there was a wide set of angel wings that wafted upon landing before folding into a more compact shape.

"So cool!" the audience roared with amazement.

"This is where we first spot Metropoliman arrive on the scene. You really showed up out of nowhere!"

"Naturally."

"Now you seem to be speaking with the blockade officers."

Metropoliman was immediately swarmed by the surrounding policemen that waved their arms, pointed away, and began yelling. The hero raised his hand as if trying to get them to stand down. For a few moments they seemed to be going back and forth.

"Oh! I see, you must be explaining to them that you're a real hero!" the lady continued to narrate what was going on the screen. "The robbers were holding everyone inside as a hostage and demanded that they receive their cash and an escape helicopter or else every five minutes they kill a hostage. At this point they had already two victims."

"Yes. I now regret trying to persuade the officers before stepping into action."

As the blockade began to push back against the strange intruder, Metropoliman took the skies and turned to face them. That's when a bracelet lit up on his right hand and a Red Arrow was summoned and fired at a select few officers.

"He's forcing them onto his side…" Mirai's eyes were glued to the footage.

"Why didn't he do that at the start? He seems a bit slow, but it looks like he is trying to do the right thing!" Nasse reassured his candidate of the bright side and continued watching.

Metropoliman then landed back on the ground and started marching towards the front of the bank. The officers struck by the arrow looked at their partners and barked some inaudible commands.

"This is where it starts. At this point, they sent in drones so we will change over to their recording now." Just as she said, the camera perspective shifted up close to behind the advancing Metropoliman, his cape dancing with each step.

A new voice cried coming from someone off-screen. "Don't come any closer! We'll blow your head off!"

He continued his casual stroll forward directly to the source of the threat.

"Incredible. One of the kidnappers had sworn to shoot you and you pressed on. I'll be honest, this part gave me chills."

"Thank you."

As the hero approached the entrance, a disguised man in a bulletproof vest, dressed as a cross between a robber and an army soldier, reached his arm around the doorway with a pistol.

"A gun!" the people around Mirai nearly reached out at the buildings in suspense.

 _Bang!_

"Eeeek!"

Metropoliman no longer existed.

"And you're gone!" the interviewer reacted as if seeing it for the first time. "But actually, you moved faster than the bullet!"

As the bullet passed the hero reappeared, Red Arrow armed and outstretched, stabbing the criminal in the chest at close range. Miraculously, the man took of his mask and knelt down on his knees begging for forgiveness.

"I still don't know how you did it," she commented, moving the microphone towards her guest hoping for clarification.

"It's simple. I just whispered in his ears, "You can never touch me," and he saw the futility of his actions and gave up as any reasonable man would."

Nasse wondered openly, "He used the Red Arrow right away that time…"

"Yeah…"

"My failure is in the next moment," Metropoliman warned in advance.

As the repentant kidnapper crawled over to the hero's boots, another criminal inside the building came forward with two hands gripped tightly on a large weapon: a shotgun. He immediately pulled the trigger and a loud BOOM followed by a flash of light that engulfed the screen, for only a moment the viewers could see Metropoliman jumping back as the groveling robber was caught in the fire and was shot dead. Black bars and pixilation censored the graphic nature of what happened, but it was clear what had taken place.

"Murder on live T.V.?! Are they allowed to even show this?"

"Oh my god… I think I'm going to be sick…"

Screams and chatter multiplied, rivaling the volume of the footage at the shocking scene.

Nasse was less surprised than confused. "The speed of the wings makes evading bullets manageable. They can also carry one additional human soul with them. So why didn't he just pull the kidnapper with him?"

"The ringleader had opened fire on his own companion, I hadn't expected it," Metropoliman lamented, as if to answer Nasse's question. "It was a total failure on my part to evade the range of the blast and allow that criminal confess to his crimes in court."

"What about his arrows…" Mirai whispered to himself. "If the target is in range and in your sight, it always strikes, right?"

"Every time," Nasse confirmed.

"I must admit that at this point, my anger had reached its peak," Metropoliman spoke softly through his voice scrambler.

"Is that why you went right back inside after the ringleader?"

"Exactly."

After having taken flight to safety, the hero dropped back down and made a strange pose and began announcing an attack. "Metro…" a bracelet lit up on his right hand.

"Can it be?" Mirai stepped closer and squinted, trying to get a closer look.

"Pon!" he completed the motion and shoved his right hand forward and out came flying a line of dazzling white that Mirai nor Nasse could not mistake for anything else than what they called it out to be.

"A White Arrow!"

It traveled right through the body of the wielder of the shotgun and he collapsed as if every inch of his muscles had shut down all at once, the weapon falling to the wayside.

In response a massive chorus of cheering and a sea of fists raised in the streets of Shibuya, praising the inexplicable defeat of the bad guy at the mere command of Metropoliman, confirming to every businessman, student, and everyone in between that super heroes were real.

"That Metropon attack is insane! I didn't even see it! The guy just fell right over!"

"This… this has to be an elaborate joke right? It's too late for April Fool's though…"

"How could this not be true? It's right here on the news being broadcasted with footage!"

Metropoliman's narration continued, "In my desperation to ensure he did not have time to fire his shotgun again I lacked the proper restraint to spare his life with my powerful Metropon attack. For that I apologize."

"That's not how White Arrows work…" Nasse stated the obvious.

"He had meant to kill from the start," Mirai grimaced.

"It's fine Metropoliman. The police had already ordered "Shoot to Kill", and the hostages were released afterwards. You saved the day!"

"Correct. I'm just frustrated we suffered losses all the same."

"We are running a bit low on time. But everyone is asking so I've got to bring the question forward… Where did you come from and why have you arrived all of a sudden?"

A mass hush permeated among the audience that at this point filled the streets to the point of making it impossible to travel through. Metropoliman himself didn't react at first.

"Heh… From where and why? Yeah, I can answer that."

He lifted up his legs and stepped off the seat, moving closer to the camera, which zoomed into a close-up of his helmet.

"I'm a messenger from heaven," he lifted a finger up above with one hand, "here to defeat twelve foes!" With his other hand he have a thumbs-down.

Then he spread his arms out wide, "I've already defeated one! The other remaining eleven are next! All of you can come at me any time! I'm not afraid! I will not skulk and hide!"

"Defeat? Foes?" the horrible realization dawned on Mirai. "What does he think he's doing?! Is he insane?"

It was him. This had to be the person that killed Rodriguez.

"Is he talking about aliens? What foes?" the musings of the public resumed as a wide spread confusion clouded their thoughts.

 _He said defeat… but if Tonma was the first… than what he really means by 'defeat' is to 'kill'…_

A shiver snaked its way up Mirai's spine as an impending sense of doom suddenly loomed.

"Nasse! Get away from me! Now! Fly away!" he snapped at his angel with a terrified look she had not yet seen before.

Without resistance she sky rocketed up to the rooftops, barely in view of her candidate.

I've been walking around with my angel out in the open all this time… which means that if another candidate was nearby, they'd recognize me right away! It's like announcing to everyone around that I was chosen as well.

 _Wait no… there's cameras everywhere, at every pole it's all being recorded. It's too late!_

 _If someone like that saw me with her…_

 _Wouldn't I see an angel too if anyone else was close as well?_

 _Unless they were already keeping their angel at bay… Dammit._

 _Am I overthinking this?_

 _No… I have to be careful. I can't afford to die!_

As Mirai looked back up at the screen, the interview was concluded and the camera was showing the woman, and far off was Metropoliman on a rooftop stretching before taking off on his wings.

"This concludes our live broadcast of the public reveal of the superhero, Metropoliman!"

* * *

Landing on an opulent balcony, the hero that is all abuzz online and on television folded up his wings and cast them away. The sun began to set and dye the sky vermilion as he made his way to the thick doors leading inside of his mansion.

"You looked good on the television," a heavenly voice greeted him as he entered. It was his angel, waiting dutifully out of sight in the top floor foyer.

"Think so?" he braced his hands against his helmet and forcefully lifted the visor off. "It still feels so loose." As he set it aside his pale, effeminate face took a big breath of air. "School starts tomorrow... it's hilarious that all these adults are eating out of the palm of my hand and I'm just a teenager, ha!"

* * *

 _Back inside the condominium where Mirai Kakehashi lives…_

"I am a messenger from heaven, sent here to defeat 12 foes."

A phone was set on the floor with a stand as a video recording played. It was the footage from before of Metropoliman announcing his own challenge to the world, like Tonma did before, but this time it meant something entirely different.

"I've already defeated one!" it replayed, as a boy with a hood tossed over his head sat on the bare floor a few feet away, eyes downcast.

"No matter where you look, this is all people are talking about Mirai…" Nasse the angel passed by and took a look at the phone.

"The other remaining eleven are next!"

Mirai reached out in a flash and tossed the phone across the room, stopping the video, as he rolled over on his side pathetically. He stared listlessly within the room that had hardly changed since he moved in, possessing only the minimum necessities.

"There's no way around it… He killed Tonma, didn't he Nasse? You already know, don't you?"

"I can't say I know but… yeah I'm pretty sure that's the only explanation…"

His goal is clear… become god and stop anyone who gets in his way. _Is there any chance that if I went up to him and said, "Go on and take it, I don't want to be god" … would he spare my life?_

Deep down Mirai knew: this man would kill him before he'd even get a chance to explain.

The boy rolled over and peeked at Nasse, "I quit. Remove my candidacy for godhood right now. I want out."

Nasse made a disheartened face and shook her head. "I… can't do that. You accepted my blessing. Once a human receives wings or arrows, the halos can't be returned… not until the soul let's go of them."

"How does a soul let them go? Tell me, please."

"…The soul has to pass on, Mirai. You'd have to die." Nasse balled up onto the floor next to the moping boy. "If I force those blessings off of you… it'd kill you."

His eyes twitched and he snapped, "When you offered up the hope to live on that day, you didn't say anything about this! You hid it from me Nasse!" He got up with an uncharacteristically furious expression. His angel winced in shame.

"I came to you in order to save your life… angels cannot interfere with the affairs of the living normally, but to form our contract we have to find those that approach the divide between the material and the celestial… those whose soul was destined to cross over."

"A soul destined to cross over… to the afterlife?"

"Yes… those who are dying… or about to die. That is how we find our candidate. And that interference was to give you the hope to live on… those are what the wings and arrows represent. Tools against their fate, that maintain the momentary connection as they change the fate of their soul."

The intensity of his face softened as Nasse went on with her fantastical and confusing world. "If I were to take the wings and arrows from you, it's the same as taking away that hope to live, and your soul would die as it had meant to that day… I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything… I just wanted to save you, Mirai… So you could find happiness." She closed her eyes and hid her face behind her arms and legs.

He looked upon the wilting angel. "No… I'm the one that is sorry. This wouldn't be happening if I hadn't lost my way. I'm grateful to you Nasse. Don't forget that no matter what I say, and even when I struggle to be happy."

She looked back up and gave a small smile.

"Besides, I've used the Red Arrow and my aunt died… then I used it again at the hotel… and a third time to make my uncle turn himself in. It would be too convenient to give them up now. I've chosen to abuse them. It makes sense I can't run away from this god stuff…"

A heavy silence fell on the pair on the hard floor.

"Um…" Mirai began awkwardly. "You said special rank angels have these wings and two kinds of arrows. Metropoliman had all three of those too so that means his angel is like that as well, right?"

"Yes. Since it seems he used the White Arrow on Tonma, he must've had it from the start."

"What about Tonma? What rank did he have? I only saw the Red Arrows…"

"Hm… I can't say for certain, but I suppose this is a good time to bring up what those ranks are." Now driven with a purpose, she leapt up into the air and raised a hand up high like a bar. "At the top there are special rank angels. Among the thirteen that was sent down, only three of us were considered top rank. We've been singled out by god as being exceptional in some aspect."

"What are you special for, Nasse?"

"Innocence, remember?" she winked.

 _Oh… right._

She continued. "That means that, including you, there are three candidates with wings, Red Arrows, and White Arrows. White Arrows are exclusively given to the angels that have been imparted with the highest honor. They are not trusted with any lesser angel."

 _Two others are out there… with White Arrows…_

Mirai struggled not to fall into despair in the middle of the lesson.

Nasse descended a bit, her flat hand going down another tier. "Below special rank angels are the first rank angels. Those are the angels that have excelled in their service to god but not have stood out as the best of any category. Such angels have the right to bestow both Red Arrows and Wings to a human. There are five such angels sent down to Earth."

Then finally, she stooped her hand lower and finished with, "At the bottom are second rank angels, the default position for angels that have not done anything to rise up. Those angels can only give their candidate a choice between one blessing, and only between the freedom of angel's wings or the love of Red Arrows. The last remaining five are in that category."

 _A set of three, then five, and then five again… I guess I understand._

"So really you can consider yourself lucky to have yourself a special rank angel. I'm really special, heh!" she puffed out her chest with such pride.

"Lucky to have White Arrows? Nothing like that could ever be a blessing…"

"Hmph!" Nasse huffed and crossed her arms, but was clearly just playing at the idea of being mad.

"Not to mention… if Metropoliman is looking to battle the other candidates… he's going to be most concerned with getting rid of candidates with special rank candidates… the ones that can kill like him… Like me."

Nasse opened up one eye and looked at her thoughtful companion on the floor. "Maybe… maybe you shouldn't go outside anymore."

"I was thinking about doing the same thing…" he acknowledged sadly.

"It's a shame though… with a school starting tomorrow and everything… Your normal life was really just about to start…"

"Today technically," Mirai noted the time. It had dialed past midnight. His churning thoughts has prevented him from even considering the idea of slumber.

 _'My normal life'… Every life is born to be happy. Each choice we make is what we think will make us the happiest._

 _In a sense, that day on the rooftop, I had stepped off thinking that was my best chance at happiness…_

 _Is my best chance at happiness being holed up in my apartment out of fear of this 'Metropoliman'?_

Memories of him soaring the sky with his wings for the first time, his tears, and the wondrous sights he witnessed, all flitted across his consciousness. The beating of his heart the evening his aunt took her own life before his eyes.

 _I didn't die that day… what did she keep me alive for to do?_

"If…" his mind gradually took hold of his decision. "If I stay in here and give up on trying to live my life, it'd have been no different if I had not been caught the day I jumped off that building, Nasse. There would not be any point to you saving me if I gave up because I'm afraid."

Nasse's eyes and mouth gaped, "But… you'll be in danger if you go to school, Mirai. If you are killed, that's the same as losing your happiness too!"

"Don't worry," he got up on his feet and pulled back on his hood. "We just won't have you come with me. No one will know I'm a candidate. If anyone has seen us before we'd know it by now, or at least we wouldn't otherwise be able to change that fact now."

His resolve strengthened and he rubbed his wrists thoughtfully. "So long as no one sees me use arrows or wings, I should be fine, and I didn't intend to do anything like that at school anyways."

Stepping towards his backpack, he checked his things over in preparation for the next morning without any further hesitation.

* * *

 _The next morning…_

"You look so good in your uniform Mirai!" his angel gushed.

"O-Oh… really? Thanks…" he lifted up the back of his feet, lifted up his arms, checked every inch of the school uniform to see if it looked funny.

"Don't forget if there's any trouble, call out my name. Even if you do it softly, I will be able to know you're reaching out to me," Nasse went over and fixed his collar and adjusted his tie, causing Mirai to slap her hands away in embarrassment.

"Right. As for you, try to avoid going outside as much as possible. Although I hate to have you caged up like this… especially since you're an angel and all…"

"It's no big deal, I won't put you in danger. I can handle being alone for a few hours. Don't look down on us angels." She smiled playfully and then whispered directly into his ear. "But I think you'll be able to find an opportunity to stab Saki with a Red Arrow when no one is looking, right Mirai? Totally safe!"

"No! That's one of the worst possible things I could do!" he backed away, waving his arms.

"Oh, come on! Didn't you pick the same school because of her?"

"Yes, but I just thought it'd be nice to maybe, possibly, at one point in time, consider spending time with her… if she wants."

"Because you like her."

"W-Well… yeah."

"Perfect! All angels agree. The best way to use the Red Arrows is to prick the one you care for most so they can see you for who you really are and appreciate you in ways they had never previously imagined. Give her a poke with the Red Arrow and she will spend the next thirty-three days learning and loving everything there is about you Mirai!"

"If I used an arrow on Saki and she only learned to love what she was forced to see because of its power, when those thirty-three days end, what will happen to us then?"

"She'd… break up with you?"

"You don't understand, Nasse. These arrows… they aren't the kind of things to be using without good reason. Not at least without thinking a lot about it before hand. So many times when they are used… something tragic happens.

"I use one on my aunt and she dies… Tonma uses them on women and he dies. Then I saw that same man use Red and White Arrows to cause even more people to lose their lives… Maybe as an angel you don't think of mortality, but for me these arrows carry a lot of responsibility with them… I can't use them just because of a crush…

"It would end up putting my life… and hers… in danger. I at least don't want to use one right now. If the arrows made someone love you forever, then maybe I'd be tempted… but with the way they are, it's just not acceptable…"

Nasse was stunned. "I didn't realize you put that much thought into them before now… It's not as simple as I assumed…"

Mirai checked the time and hurried to the door. Before leaving he said, "I'd use the arrow without hesitation if I saw Metropoliman but otherwise… I'm going to go and try and have a normal day of school. See you Nasse."

"Goodbye Mirai!"

* * *

 _Outside of the entrance to Mirai's High School_

Students all wearing identical, matching clothes, completed with backpacks on their backs, walked through a gate and up arching stairs that led to a string of glass doors opening to the inside of the school.

Not recognizing anyone around him, Mirai nervously adjusted the strap across his chest.

 _This is a fresh start for me… It won't be like before. I won't let it._

Petals danced in the sky, floating from the trees that lined the brick road. Mirai admired the beautiful scenery as he kept his head up high. Among the petals were large feathers that did a downward spiral to the ground.

Mirai reached up to grab one, but it fazed through his hand as if he was hallucinating it.

"What the…?" he looked up for the source.

The sky was clear, no clouds except a single white spot above the school where the feathers dropped.

"That is…"

 _Oh crap. That can't be…_

 _Is it Metropoliman's?!_

He tucked his chin in, buried his hand in his pockets and briskly started walking forward trying to get inside.

"It's too late," a soft male voice declared.

Mirai kept moving forward, eyes on a single point ahead until suddenly his fear was confirmed true as an angel hurdled down and stuck its face right in front of his, causing Mirai to reflexively stop and gasp.

 _That really was an angel in the sky… Dammit!_

"You reacted." The angel bore the shape of a young boy with an asymmetrical trim to his hair, an upside-down pair of wings billowing from his hips. He smiled cockily at Mirai who stared back so hard it would be impossible to act like it never happened.

But he couldn't bring himself to speak, his throat dried up.

"Wow, you're really sweating. Haven't you seen an angel before? Are you trying to say I look scary? How mean… I'd rather think you didn't expect another candidate to be nearby, yes?"

"C-Close by?" Mirai froze up. The students around him saw a boy sweating and staring into space, now whispering to himself, and promptly kept their distance and began whispering. Mirai never noticed. He couldn't see anything but this angel in front of him. "Who… Who are you with?"

 _Please don't be with Metropoliman… please!_

"Very close… In fact," his eyes went passed Mirai for a moment and he chuckled. "Right behind you."

Before he could turn all the way he saw a large red point emerge from his abdomen, a familiar shade and shape. His eyes made contact with his assailant for just a moment.

 _Saki?!_

"Huh?" a demure young girl blinked in surprise. "Mirai Kakehashi?"

"Good job," the angel grinned ear to ear. "Now he's yours to manipulate as you see fit for thirty-three days, Saki."


	4. Chapter 4: Heart's Beloved

**CHAPTER 4: HEART'S BELOVED**

 _I'm pierced! Saki is piercing me with a Red Arrow!_

 _Wait… she's a god candidate?_

 _And I'm aware of it… I still have my awareness…_

 _I always loved her… so nothing will change—_

Mirai turned around as the arrow nestled into his body out of sight and looked directly at Saki.

She was beautiful. The most beautiful person—no, the loveliest thing he had ever seen in life. Her chin length, dark hair—perfect. Her brown eyes—perfect. The world around them vanished and it was only Saki. Just Saki.

 _Saki!_

"I love you!" he blurted out; his breath taken away. "I love you," he repeated for no particular reason.

"Heh, he is highly susceptible to the effects, this kid," the angel rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

The girl, however, couldn't look at his confessor in the eyes, and appeared as if her heart was broken.

"Saki!" Mirai freaked out. "Why are you so gloomy! What's wrong?" He gripped onto her shoulders and begged; her reaction was only to become even more lifeless. "I'd do anything, just tell me what is wrong!"

"Just as I taught you," the angel loomed over the girl's shoulder. "You know what to say."

Her moroseness dulled her acknowledgement, slowly she parted her lips. "Mirai… Do you have angel wings?"

"Yes!" the boy declared. "I can show you right now!" Immediately his set burst out of a halo that formed around his neck and he stretched them out proudly as if to show them off.

"Good!" the angel's interest piqued. "That makes things very convenient. Now go on, remember what we talked about." The angel nudged the sullen girl, egging her on.

"Do you remember where I live? Probably no—"

"Yes, I remember!" Mirai boasted.

At last the young girl responded with motion, something like surprise. "Oh… Yes, my room is on the third floor… Can you go there and wait for me? I'll—"

"I will wait forever for you!"

"—be back after the ceremony is over. So please just wait inside."

"You can count on me!" Mirai let go of his beloved and jumped off the ground and vanished in the middle of the oncoming wave of students who were ogling the creepy confession and the girl who looked comparatively worried. Now their jaws dropped as the boy transformed into an empty space.

"W-What? Did anyone else see that?"

"You too? Wasn't there just someone right there?"

As the few witnesses questioned their sight and sanity, Saki frowned.

"Don't worry about him," the angel cautioned. "He's not our problem. Besides, it is his fault he didn't have his angel nearby watching out for him."

The kids came up to her asking questions and if she was alright. Her angel gave her a look that served as a stern warning.

She bit her lip.

* * *

Dropping down onto a small balcony, Mirai landed before a sliding glass door which he pressed his face against before opening.

 _Saki's room…_

It was colorful and littered with stuffed animals and throwaway pillows. Posters betwixt pictures decorated the walls that gave it a homier feel than his own dreary, empty apartment. A table sat low on the floor in the center typical for a Japanese house where you sit on the floor, with your legs tucked underneath.

Miniature trash can.

Desk with a computer monitor on top.

Polka-dotted cabinets.

Mirai slid open the door, entered, and closed it behind him, before sitting at the table and putting a hand to his chest.

 _My chest is on fire… I've never felt such bliss before. Never would I have guessed I'd be inside of her bedroom right now._

He was commanded to wait, and so he did, not leaving that spot for hours until Saki returned home.

Click.

The door to the bedroom opened and Mirai sprung to his feet.

As if she was surprised to see a boy standing in the middle of her room, she stood in the doorway for a moment watching him as her shifty-eyed angel lurked behind her like a shadow.

"Saki! I waited for you just like you asked because I love—"

"Mirai," she piped up to try and cut him off. "We're in the same class by the way…"

"Wow… the same class," he melted on the inside.

Growing impatient, the angel intersected the pair and folded his arms. "Boy, what rank is your angel? Second? First?"

Mirai looked up at the being with sudden indifference before returning to gazing at the object of his affection.

"…Saki, you need to ask him. As he is right now, he should answer whatever you want."

"Right…" she closed the door, locked it, and sat down at the table and motioned for the boy to get back down to reduce the stiffness of the situation. He plopped down so fast an observer would think his legs had turned to jelly. Saki shuffled nervously underneath the table, "Kakehashi, what rank is your angel if you don't mind me asking?"

"Special-rank, the highest rank," Mirai happily complied.

"Special?!" the angel flinched. "Ask him… ask him if he has White Arrows!"

"Do you have White Arr—"

Mirai lifted up his right hand and pulled out his White Arrow, pointing it up and away from the two.

She froze in place, in awe of the dazzling snow-white shard. The angel panicked, "Saki! Get away from him! You're in danger!"

"No!" Mirai insisted, silently making it go away into an angelic bracelet. "I would never use the White Arrow on anyone… Not like Metropoliman."

"You're not Metropoliman?" Saki asked firmly.

"I swear I'm not… Saki, please believe me!" Her meager scrutiny made him squirm and he nearly threatened the upheaval of the table above their laps.

"Okay, okay! I believe you Mirai…"

"Of course, he isn't," her angel sighs. "It'd be far too convenient for him to fall right into our laps so quickly like this… Although perhaps it is for the best you weren't going to the same school as Metropoliman."

"Listen, Mirai Kakehashi," the angel went on, putting his hands on the girl's shoulders. "I need you to be Saki's set of wings. She has no way of avoiding arrows. Do you understand? If Metropoliman was to send a White Arrow at her…"

"That will never happen." Mirai's face went cold. His eyes sharpened. "No one will kill Saki. I will carry her away with my wings."

"Good. Very good." Saki's angel drifted to the side, "Then let's try and practice, shall we? First, the two of you will need to hold the other's hand; specifically, using the hand with your arrows."

"H-Hold hands?" It was if the angel had asked him to strip down to his underwear.

Saki raised her right hand with a bland expression and waited for him to follow suit.

Sheepishly, Mirai reached his suddenly shaking hand up to hers until their fingers intertwined with one another.

 _Her hands… so soft and warm… Don't hurt her!_

"Now imagine your bracelets doing the same as your fingers. Wrap them around each other," his instruction continued. The two students looked dubiously at the angel and then back at each other.

 _Wrap these rings around each other? What is he…_

Merely by thinking about the two combining, the halos around the connected set of hands shifted around, bending, responding to the wavelengths of the other, until suddenly coiling around each other, then reaching over and wrapping around the other's hand. An impossibly powerful force now held them together.

"Whoa!"

"…What next?" Saki wondered.

"Next, Mirai needs to get behind you and wrap the connected arm around you." The angel's eyes darted to the teenage boy in the room. "No funny business."

"O-Of course!" Stepping around the brooding, frozen girl, he lifted up their chained hands and looped around from behind like they were in the middle of a dance. Instinctively his body and arm hovered around her without pressing against her.

"You need to hold onto her Mirai. You'll be carrying her with your wings. If you're not careful she will dangle off of your right arm."

The angel's warning was all it took to end his trepidation, embracing her smaller form within his firmly. With a thought, his wings returned at his back.

Saki looked around, waiting for something to happen. Gradually, the feeling of the floor below her feet disappeared and her body pushed against the boy's arms from the force of gravity. Her heart began to dance like Mirai's but for an entirely different reason. From her perspective it was like she was growing inches taller with each second.

"Don't be afraid," a voice pressed against one of her ears as they went forward to the glass sliding door and before she knew it, they were at the edge of his balcony.

"I'm not," she said despite herself. She was afraid, but not of the heights.

They soared.

Her home. The city. The sky in her hair. They were all alone, spectators to the world. Saki's heart sank the higher they went.

Like this, the world and what's going on doesn't matter. She would be able to go far away: to nowhere. Never stop and have to be anywhere. Why stop? Nowhere could you be your home.

 _Maybe I should have chosen the wings and not the arrows…_ she thought. _Love or freedom… Why did I ask for this power that manipulates the heart?_

 _I know what Revel would say. 'But look, now you have both arrow_ and _wings.'_

 _But_ do _I have wings?_

Her thoughts reluctantly returned to the warm presence at her back and the arms around her waist trying to balance between being gentle and strong.

This did not go unnoticed.

"Saki?" Mira penetrated her train of thought. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No," her voice so diminished it was as if she didn't want to be heard. "You…" She trailed off. As Mirai waited patiently, it eventually became clear she would not continue.

What was going on in her mind? He would have given everything to know what was behind the sound of her voice.

"Let me show you something," he made up his mind. His wings expanded its glide and they went even higher.

"Mirai!" she gasped. He was pierced with her arrow, surely he could be trusted? Her small fingers gripped his hand tighter all the same.

The clouds cloaked their ascent, enveloping them like a fog. Higher, higher. They kept going. Before Saki could protest in earnest, the clouds became a puffy, mass below them as they reached into the higher levels of the earth's atmosphere.

She held her breath and closed her eyes. Humans have trouble breathing on Mount Everest in the United States. Being up here should be suicide, but she was too afraid to even speak.

"It's okay, Saki. The angel's blessing protects us. Just as it does when we go beyond the speed of sound. Nasse told me that once that the wings are kind of like our cars. They shield the material forces, serving as a celestial vehicle… But not like a rocket ship. If we leave our planet then we'd be out of bounds… or something." He chuckled. "Wow… saying this stuff out loud makes me think I'm going crazy."

Mirai's rambling was proof enough. Saki dropped her guard and braved the atmosphere.

He was right. It was as if they were not moving at all. The mixture of white, green, and blue swirling together surrounded by the total darkness of the disappearing atmosphere—they were entirely alone at the edge of their world.

"If there is something you need to say, or anything I can do for you," Mirai began to say what he truly wanted, "Tell me. That's all you have to do."

"Thank you, Kakehashi. There's nothing you can do," she spoke, before realizing that claim caused him anxiety based on the tensing muscles in his arms. "I mean… this is my own problem that I have to overcome on my own. But I feel a bit better hearing your words…"

 _Even though they are the product of me controlling you and not truly your own…_

If there was any possibility that the swoon-prone Mirai didn't take her at her word, any chance of that went out the window when he simply and contently said, "I'm glad."

* * *

"It appears the flight test was a success, which means that Saki's wing dilemma is over… for now." the girl's angel nodded in approval as the two returned intact. The only hiccup was the full minute it took for them to disconnect the halos at their wrists because Mirai couldn't bring himself to truly consent in his mind to undo the angelic knot despite his insistence he was trying.

Vrrm. Vrrrm.

A vibration made Saki's school jacket tremble. She swiftly pulled a phone out of an inside pocket and tapped the screen. "A news update notification. It's him. It's about Metropoliman."

The two others huddled in close to peek at the article as she slowly scrolled down. The title read, "HEROIC METROPOLIMAN STOPS KNIFE-WIELDING ATTACKER IN AKIHABARA!" A bold, red notice within the post stated that later tonight the hero will be making another live announcement tonight on Sakura TV.

"This caped crusader is our biggest concern at the moment…" the angel stared down Mirai. "I personally would have preferred performing our duty to find the next god through dialogue. Gathering the candidates together and talking it out, taking their past actions and character into account, then selecting the one most fit for the honor.

"However… this other special-rank benefactor is playing the part of someone with the best intentions, but it is clearly someone whose goal has been all along to systematically file down the competition until only he remains, only winning because no one would be left to challenge their resume."

The angel turned to his candidate and lifted up a hand menacingly at her. "All of the candidates. Which includes Saki. Eventually, she will be in danger of suffering the same fate as Tonma Rodriguez. He will use the White Arrow on her."

"That will never happen!" Mirai gritted his teeth like a mad dog. "I'll go to Sakura TV at the appointed time and hit him with a Red Arrow!"

"Just the Red?" the angel mocked. "It will be very dangerous…"

"I'll take him down with me if I have to," Mirai swore and headed to the glass door leading outside to leave right that instant.

"Kakehashi!" Saki called out, surprised at how far the arrows can push him for her sake.

"No. He's not going there, Revel."

It was a sweet, sugar-coated voice, one not belonging the trio previously inside. As Mirai reached out to the glass door another angel phased through it stopping him just short as she put out a hand to signal for him to stop.

"Nasse! How did you get here?" Mirai wondered for a moment, forgetting his tempestuous mood.

Revel, Saki's guardian, was the only one to react with discomfort.

 _Nasse… this kid's angel is Nasse?!_

All special rank angels are singled out because of their over-abundance of one quality, and with her it is pure-heartedness. The type hardest to deal with…

Or perhaps… the easiest to manipulate?

"All angels can find their candidate, Mirai. You have my halos." Nasse examined her candidate as she answered, "You told me to stay put, but it became clear that you weren't returning, even though you said you wanted to avoid trouble. Which means it obviously found you…"

Her inspection came to a stop as she went nose-to-nose with Mirai. "Your cheeks are a little rosy… Did you get hit with a red arrow by…" she turned her head to the girl huddled closely to Revel.

Mirai stepped in her line of sight, "Don't be mad at Saki."

"Saki?! You mean your crush? You were supposed to hit her with the red arrow, not the other way around!"

"Crush?!" Saki's eyes widened in shock.

"You were going to what?!" Revel snarled.

"N-N-No, no, no, no!" Mirai waved his hands and shook his head in one giant blur. "I wasn't! That's what Nasse wanted me to do but I would never do that to her! I love her!"

"Wow!" Nasse put her hands to her cheeks, "He would never say that normally! She got you good."

"I don't believe him," Revel folded his arms and gave the boy a disapproving look like a protective father. "A boy making a girl fall in love with him… especially if he likes them, I would expect nothing less! Not to mention now that Saki hit him with an arrow, now he'll definitely strike back for revenge if we let it happen."

Nasse flew into Revel's face now, blinking her long eye lashes, "I promise he won't! He's the most harmless human I've ever known. All this time, he never used his White Arrows, and he rarely used his Red Arrows."

 _Unlike me…_ The girl stared at her shoes, quietly ashamed.

Revel backed away in contempt. "Saki read about what happened to his aunt. She killed herself with no previous signs indicating she'd do that, all after reportedly she confessed to Mirai about killing his family. He's far from innocent, this one…"

"That was an accident!" Mirai interjected. "The Red Arrow… it made her bring a knife to herself… I had no clue she would feel so intensely, that her emotion could run so deep, that something like that could happen." He clutched his chest as he was to die when recalling the incident. "Every life is precious… I know that now."

Saki looked up from her shoes.

 _The Red Arrow's power…_

"Revel, enough." Saki's voice had never been so harsh. Revel did a double-take. "Thirty-three days… let's wait thirty-three days until the arrow leaves his soul."

"But… But Saki," Revel was shell-shocked from the role reversal. "What about Metropoliman? He needs to be stopped or else—"

"Oh, I get it!" Nasse looked right through Revel. "You want Mirai to go fight Metropoliman so he will die and Saki will receive his wings and arrows so she'd be safer."

"Well… I mean that's a possibility but…" Revel subconsciously floated to the corner as the pressure of everyone's eyes backed him into it.

"Revel?!" Saki herself was taken aback. "What does she mean?"

Nasse considered elaborating herself, but she thought the idea of Revel confessing his sin more entertaining.

"You see…" Revel's fingers anxiously fiddled with one another. "When a candidate dies their blessing usually returns to the angel that granted them. But there are a couple of exceptions. If a candidate just so happened to directly kill another, the victim's wings or arrows can be transferred. Or in this case… if a god candidate is under the effects of a Red Arrow, if they died by any means, natural, accidental, or murder, their blessings would all follow the return of the Red Arrow to its owner."

Nasse summed up the conclusion, "So if Mirai dies, Saki will not only get one of her Red Arrows back, but also everything I've given him. His wings, his set of Red Arrows, and even the White Arrow."

The air fell heavy among them after that, with no one knowing what is most appropriate to say. The one that had to break the standstill was Revel himself.

"Fine!" he said in the breath of a sigh, tossing his hands out in a shrug. "Guess you all see right through me. No point in trying anything sneaky now."

"This why you were always called the angel of trickery, Revel."

"I prefer the term 'tactician', personally."

"Heh. If you were that good, you wouldn't be stuck at second rank."

Revel's eyes twitched with madness until he took a deep breath and assessed the situation. "With us all together like this, given the situation, we need to consider teaming up."

"Sure!" Nasse agreed without any doubts.

"What?!" Mirai pulled back on the reigns. "Didn't that angel just try to get me killed?! We can't trust him!"

"Nearly every angel selected, to some degree, wants to have their candidate be safe and sound," Revel rationalized with zero remorse. "My top priority is Saki. Your angel, Nasse, must feel the same way."

"Don't be afraid, Mirai." Nasse flew over to the other angel's candidate and reached out a hand, which went right through like a ghost, which caused a little yelp to come unsolicited from Saki's mouth which caused Mirai's blush to renew. "Angels cannot interfere with other candidates not bonded with them through their halos. We aren't allowed to disrupt this process."

Revel butted in, "Besides, refuse to trust me and you can't help out Saki. You want to be her wings, don't you?"

"I'll be anything for Saki!" Nasse's reasonable attempt at assuaging his concerns paled in comparison to Revel name-dropping the one who consumed his heart and mind.

"That settles it then," Revel gave a cheeky grin.

"If we're going to stay safe and watch each other's backs, we will need to stick together," Nasse broached a new topic. "If Saki can't leave her parents without causing a fuss, then it would be much more convenient for Mirai to come here."

Mirai nearly had a panic attack, "But… Saki's parents will catch on that I'm here if I stay for over a month!"

"That's okay," Nasse brushed aside his concern with an air of nonchalance. "You can just secretly live in Saki's room."

"L-Live… in Saki's room?" Mirai began to noticeably shake.

"It's fine…" Saki acquiesced without making eye contact. "Just until god is decided…"

"Living… in Saki's room…"

"This is going to be a long thirty-three days…"

* * *

 _Meanwhile…_

"You there, stop your car immediately!" a man ordered through a megaphone as several law enforcement vehicles sped down a road lined with parked cars. Ahead of their pursuit was a screeching van with a man at the wheel cussing under his breath repeatedly, eyes scanning frenetically. His blotchy skin was sunken in around his face, eyes red. The man had barely enough of a grasp on reality to know that he was in trouble.

During his frenzied looks around, he spotted a strange sight. A costumed hero balanced perfectly alongside his vehicle as if in suspended animation. "I'm tripping so hard right now. Dammit!" Trying his best to ignore his incredibly vivid hallucination, its visor turned to get a visual on the driver and casually bent the wrist on its right hand at him.

Blood rushed to his head; dopamine dripped throughout his body. "What was in those drugs, this is the best shit ever. I've never felt..." his words slurred when he caught side of the gazing hero that hadn't gone away. He started laughing maniacally, "An aphrodisiac too? So strong… Why do I think this hero is a dime piece all of a sudden? I'm losing it…"

"I'm real you brain dead bottom feeder," the hero snapped impatiently. "Now surrender."

"Okay, my dude…" He slammed on his breaks so hard and sudden the police cars, blaring with their sirens, barely managed to stop themselves from crashing right into him.

Within minutes they officers had apprehended the drug dealer who was laughing and cat-calling Metropoliman as he stood, feet back on the ground, tapping his foot.

"Incredible," a nearby, idle officer remarked. "Once again you stopped a criminal with such ease. I can't—"

"I just did what anyone in my position would do," Metropoliman's altered voice said flatly. "I've got more work to do. I'm going to leave now." Before the policeman could get another word in, he was gone without a trace.

Before a minute could pass, Metropoliman returned to normal speed, stomping inside his base of operations and throwing his helmet onto the floor with reckless abandon.

"What's wrong?" as always, the dutifully waiting angel emerged from the shadows upon his return.

"Come on!" he plopped down on a couch and rubbed his temples with the cold, hard gauntlets of the suit. "These are not the people I want to be dealing with. Each time I go out I give up one of my limited Red Arrows just so they can shove a filthy rat inside of a cage."

"Why not just kill all the criminals with White Arrows and save your Reds?" the curvy, seductive angel purred.

"Are all of you angels clueless? I can't just go around killing them. Humans are even sentimental about their own garbage. If I don't show some so-called 'mercy' to these vermin the masses will turn on me. They already are beginning to suffer from their whimsy. Just look."

The boy reached out and tapped the table before him and it lit up like a large computer monitor, functioning as a high-speed computer with a touch-screen. With a few flicks a pop-up emerged with a website where people anonymously post their opinions in a thread.

 _his suit is all baggy, metro must be a little kid lol_

 _If he's so powerful why doesn't he show his face? He's probably ugly. Even changes his voice with a machine and it's obviously compensating for something._

 _Since he only shows up late in the day, seems like he has a day job or still goes to school… Either way kinda disappointing._

 _wHERE ARE HIS ENEMIES? No one has seen shit. What's he trying to hide?_

 _Careful what you say… what if starts using his alien powers on us if he gets bored?_

"Not to mention the vapid media trying to report sensational news," he did another swipe and various articles surfaced titled: Are the Police Growing Irritated With Metropoliman? "Every day they try to moralize everything and get a hot take. There is nothing more irritating than the common man's sense of virtue and their poor attempt at undermining those superior to them."

"If this keeps up," he rested his forehead in his palms, "I won't just fail to get to heaven, I'll go straight to hell. Are these other candidates truly that afraid of me?"

Often when he spoke to his angel it was rhetorical but often the angel would interject all the same. "They are afraid of being killed. Such is the nature of mortals. In their mind, the world begins and ends with their consciousness."

"Obviously, Meyza." He exhaled loudly causing his special-rank angel to back away apologetically. "You would think that a bunch of candidates picked from humans that are destined to die wouldn't cling to their meaningless lives so tightly now."

"The wings and arrows, the prospect of lordship over humanity, it all renews their interest among the living. Their connection with the world around them has changed. They will cling to it as they would their fragile hope to live."

Once more Meyza the angel waited to be berated by his candidate, but a thoughtful expression passed over his fine features. She could just barely note the birth of a smile most sinister.

"Their connection with the world, huh? Heh. How predictable for them to change their tune when they aren't dragging their feet with the rest of the mouth-breathers. I see now…" A plan of what to do next and the steps after began to take root, his sour mood dissipating underneath a sadistic pleasure.

He rose back to his feet.

* * *

 _Thirty-three days later at Saki's bedroom…_

Two angels and a girl stood in a room staring at a boy tied to a chair.

"Any second it should be time… I pierced him before I made it inside of school."

They were waiting for the moment that Mirai Kakehashi would return to normal. The boy awkwardly shifted in his constraints, Revel's idea, nervous from all of the staring. Amidst his squirming he stopped and began to feel the sensation of warmth radiating his body slip away. A crimson shard emerged from his body like a turtle poking its head out of its shell, before firing directly into Saki's right hand, specifically the bracelet that was at the ready.

The three leaned forward and anticipated the change, but Mirai still had trouble making eye contact with Saki or even the angels with their intrusive stares.

"His cheeks still have that same coloration…" Revel mumbled, unsure.

"Still as red as a Red Arrow," Nasse poked at his cheek like he was a baby. "See? He's liked your candidate all along. He never needed to be controlled."

Saki was already untying him and apologizing repeatedly. As Mirai rubbed his arms where they were sore, he steeled himself and looked the girl straight in the eyes.

"You don't have to apologize for anything. Actually… I'm grateful that you pierced me with an arrow." Saki's head titled at this boy who somehow became even perplexing than he was before.

"What are you talking about, Mirai?!" Nasse raved with false aggravation.

"Without the Red Arrow in my heart, I never would have been able to put my feelings out there. Ever since this all started, I've been keeping to myself, trying to do as little as possible… but the Arrow gave me the push I needed.

"And more than anything," he smiled shyly and put a hand to his chest gently. "It filled me with happiness alongside Saki." The girl as well held herself tightly, looking away, not sure what to do with herself.

"Whoa!" Nasse clapped her hands together. "I'm proud of you Mirai!"

"So easily impressed," Revel rolled his eyes. "Are we happy now? What about Metropoliman?"

Mirai stepped up from his chair and his jaw tightened. "I am not fit for godhood but… I now realize that at least Metropoliman isn't either. He threatens my happiness, Saki's happiness, and the happiness of the other candidates that have been hiding."

"Precisely," Revel agreed. "God should serve as a guide to happiness, not oppress it."

"I won't let him," he said quietly, and then louder. "I won't let him get away with it. He will not stop our happiness."

Saki broke her silence. "Mirai…"

"Hm?" he nearly jumped.

"Having been watching you all this time… I think I should start thinking about my own happiness and where to find it."

"Yes! Let's find it together!" he said before thinking.

"Well… I didn't mean together, exactly…"

"Oh! R-Right… of course…" he wrapped his arms around his head to hide his face.

"Is there a fragment of the Red Arrow still lodged in your soul?" Revel gave him a funny look as Nasse giggled and pointed playfully at Mirai.

Saki quietly chuckled under her breath off to the side to hide the reaction.

Vrrrm. Vrrm.

They spoke of the devil and he appeared, as the American saying goes. Both their phones had been abuzz a few times throughout the month, set to alarm the pair of any Metropoliman related news. Without further ado, they took out their phones and checked the notification.

METRPOLIMAN TO MAKE A MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT TONIGHT AT 6:06, BROADCAST LIVE ON SEVERAL NETWORKS!

"Looks like he wants some more attention again…"

"Either way, we need to listen to whatever this guy has to say."

They agreed to wait until the afternoon, and so they did.

Sitting on the floor, the awaited time reached the group of four as they were watching the news talk about the state of Japan, the name Metropoliman never far from the newscasters' lips.

"Good evening," the familiar mask and voice lit up on the screen. "This is Metropoliman, as I'm sure you can guess. To my eleven foes…" He hesitated. "Or perhaps I should say… my eleven comrades, I now realize."

"He can't honestly believe we're going to forget about what he said before?" Revel snorted derisively.

"Foes to allies? Is this really happening?" Mirai dared to hope.

"It has come to my attention that the only way we can solve this problem is peacefully. Comrades! I request that we all gather together and talk things out!" His posture reached out dramatically; ironically similar to how he did when he called them all out earlier to take him on.

"Clearly a trap," Revel pointed out, aiming to reel in Mirai's tendency towards naiveté.

"The location… Jinbo Stadium! I've rented out the entire place two days from now at three-o-clock. I await you there." Just as the breath of his last word ended so did the broadcast, which went to the newscasters who began picking apart his brief announcement.

"That's… it?" Saki spoke doubtfully.

"A stadium… No roof. I presume so the candidates can fly in and out as they please?" Revel postulated.

"It won't just be us," Mirai tried to imagine the event. "People… curious onlookers will be flooding the area trying to get front row seats to what the deal is with Metrpoliman and his foes… or comrades."

"Perhaps he is banking on the candidates to slip within and blend in."

"But how do you have a conversation at a stadium filled with people?" Saki shook her head.

"If he wanted a discussion, a meeting room would suffice. But a candidate might not feel comfortable going into an enclosed space with people that have wings and arrows that they don't know. He may be saying, 'Those with wings can leave if they want, so it's safe to come by.'"

"But what about others like Saki?" Mirai glanced at her and then looked for an answer with the angels. "Two days… how can people without wings make it in time if they are far away?"

"They don't have to go that far to reach it, shouldn't be a problem," Revel dismissed his concerns with a hand wave. Noticing that Mirai didn't find that good enough, the angel looked over at the boy's guardian. "Nasse… didn't you tell him?"

"Hm?" she hummed with a blank look in her eyes. The others could practically see the realization hit her in the face. "Oh! Sorry, Mirai! I forgot to tell you… All of the candidates are chosen from the same continent. They were all in Japan when we encountered them."

"God is chosen out of Japan?" Mirai scratched his head. "Why here?"

"Well… it's like this country is blessed. There are many people here who try and commit suicide, which is the prerequisite for the contract between angel and candidate."

"That's the simple version of the explanation. It'll suffice."

Their country is blessed with an abnormally high suicide rate? Mirai did not know what to what to make of that. Just who is this god?

Saki chose to move on. "So, he'll definitely be there, right?"

"Don't suppose how it would work if he didn't make some kind of appearance…" Mirai chose to believe.

"It doesn't matter," Revel brushed them aside. "They will be televising the whole event. There is no point in being there. We can just observe safely in this room. Why risk giving him an opportunity to use a White Arrow on you or Saki?"

"But what if he does want to talk?" Mirai, to the angels' surprise, didn't back down. "Or what if other candidates show up and need our help?"

"Wanting to help is very noble of you, Mirai." Revel looked down on the boy as he folded his arms, a typical pose for him. "But it isn't always simple as wanting to do so."

"I know," Mirai told himself just as much as he told Revel. He looked to Saki and waited for her approval.

"Even if it's dangerous… I think it might be the right thing to do. Even if he wants to take our happiness away, that doesn't mean we should turn away." Saki stood at his side and nodded. "We should go."

"They grow up so fast…" Nasse sniffled.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Revel groaned.

When the time approached to enter the stadium, the pair without their angels arrived at the entrance, filled with nosy people abuzz with excitement.

 _Any of these people… could be a god candidate…_

He saw nothing out of the ordinary right away. Lifting up the hood of his jacket to cover himself a bit, tucking in his hands inside a pouch in the front, he moved to the entrance with Saki at close at his side wearing a beanie hat, not trying to appear too much like she's attempting to conceal her identity.

They arrived at Jinbo Stadium.


End file.
